Lorde shines like the sun at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
It's been nearly a decade since Lorde rocketed to stardom at the age of 16, propelled initially by the charttopping single “Royals” and then a steady stream of other terrific cuts from the amazing 2013 debut “Pure Heroine.”
Local fans have gotten to watch her develop her craft during those years, as the New Zealand-born vocalist has made regular stops in these parts — going back to her triumphant Bay Area debut at the Fillmore in San Francisco in 2013 (the same day “Pure Heroine” was released) and continuing through winning shows at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, Oakland Arena and other venues.
Now 26, the singer returned to San Francisco on Tuesday for a sold-out show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
“Hello and welcome to the Solar Power Tour. My name is Ella,” said the woman born Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor. “You may know me as Lorde. It is my absolute privilege to be with you tonight.”
And the feeling was definitely mutual, as the fans roared in approval at basically every move, note or smile Lorde would make during her roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes onstage.
The show was nothing short of brilliant, serving as yet another statement that Lorde — 10 years and three records into her career — deserves to be ranked as one of the greatest pop artists of the millennium.
The music was diversely appealing, drawing from numerous genres but managing to sound wholly distinctive to the artist herself. The lyrics — rich in insight and brimming with clever and curious storylines and phrases — were just as rewarding.
Plus, her vocal delivery has just gotten better through the years, as Lorde's ability to deal both in nuance and degrees of drama has improved. She was battling a cold at the Graham, but that didn't have any noticeable impact on her singing — although it could be heard when she spoke to the crowd.
Lorde opened the show in relatively low-key fashion with “Leader of a New Regime,” one of 10 songs she'd perform off the tour's namesake album — 2021's “Solar Power.” Yet, she'd quickly pick up the intensity with a double shot of big fan favorites — “Homemade Dynamite” (from 2017's “Melodrama”) and “Buzzcut Season” (from “Pure Heroine”).
It certainly wasn't surprising that the offerings from the first two fulllengths went over so well — after all, they both rank among the best albums of the previous decade. What was a bit more surprising, however, was that the new songs were received every bit as warmly as the older cuts.
“Solar Power” didn't do the type of sales, or draw the same critical acclaim, as its two predecessors. Yet, the material translated far better in concert than it does on record, as Lorde sold each song with conviction, personality and the help of 8,500 backup singers in the crowd.
There was a serious “Solar Power” theme to the night, beginning with the selection of the Beatles' “Sun King” as the entrance music and extending to the use of a giant rotating sundial (with its gnomon doubling as a stairway) as the main stage prop. She'd even rev up the confetti cannons to shoot out brightly colored (and messy) souvenirs for fans on the floor during “Solar Power,” a song Lorde said she wrote “in a wet bikini” while “on an island called Martha's Vineyard.”
She explained that her goal in writing the song was to capture the feeling of “a long day in the sun, your skin warmed, the kiss of the ocean, the fuzz of day-drinking maybe.”
“It's a very specific kind of hazy, sexy power,” she added. “I know you know what I'm talking about because you live in California.
I wanted to capture that feeling so that no matter where I was, no matter what kind of day I was having, I could summon it.”
Lorde wasn't sunny all the time — and some of her best work came on the more melancholy songs like “Stoned at the Nail Salon” and “Liability.”
After performing the pumped-up electro-dancepop of “Green Light,” she'd intentionally bring things down a notch and close the main set on a mellow, introspective note with the gorgeous “Oceanic Feeling.”
She'd then return for a terrific encore, reaching back to her early art-pop roots for minimalist takes on the “Pure Heroine” classics “400 Lux,” “Royals” and “Team.”
Opening the show for Lorde was the Bay Area's own Remi Wolf, the Palo Alto High School graduate who drew rave reviews for her debut album, last year's “Juno.”
A rising star in the music business, the soul-pop singer-songwriter — now reportedly based in Los Angeles — returns to Northern California for three shows in September. Wolf performs Sept. 12 at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz and Sept. 14-15 at the Warfield in San Francisco. See remiwolf.com for details.